It's a new year — time for a fresh start. Welcome to our 15-day series on how to fall (back) in love with your blog. This series is all about stepping back, re-evaluating things and making sure you're still connecting with your blog. Here's what you won't find in this series: articles on analytics, plug-ins, sponsored content, ad networks and the like (check out our 31 Day Blog Challenge for that!). What you will find is tips and strategies to stay inspired, motivated and pushing your own boundaries, all while loving what you do.
Once you've been blogging for a while, it's not unusual to look up from your screen one day and ask yourself, "Why am I doing this?"
What may have started out as a fun hobby, or a way to share your recipes with friends, or a much needed creative outlet has somehow morphed into a stressful rat race.
Now you're wondering how that other blogger got that slick email signup box. And wishing you could just crack that 50K (100K, 250K, 500K) users/month number. And thinking about how you can expand your prop budget and afford that new camera lens that would make your photos just that much better. And what about sponsored content? How come Blogger X got invited to that media event and you didn't? Are there enough long tail keywords in your latest post? Or how can you go on vacation when you don't have stockpiled content to trickle out to your readers? Plus it's already January 1st and you haven't even started creating your Valentine's Day content so people can start pinning it with lots of lead time ...
Sound familiar?
Those might be the signs that you've forgotten what drew you to food blogging in the first place and that maybe, just maybe, you're not digging it so much anymore.
Starting today and over the next three weeks, we'll be figuring out how to get back to that good place you were in when you first started on this blogging journey, while still taking advantage of all that you've learned and how you've grown since you first started.
Let's get started ...
Step 1: Stop and Step Back
Sit down somewhere away from your computer where you won't be interrupted. In fact, leave your computer, your phone and your tablet in another room and pick up a pen and a piece of paper. If you can, sit down in a location that you don't associate with blogging.
Think for a minute. Why did you start your blog? What made you get that WordPress or Blogspot account and write that first post and hit publish?
Write down the first thought that comes to your head in big block letters.
Put your pen down and read it over a few times.
Is that the reason you still blog?
If it is, and you're still cognizant of that every day and happy with that reason, then you're probably doing just fine.
If it isn't, that's ok. There's lots of reasons why that may no longer be your blogging purpose. We grow as people and our interests and motivations change over time. It could just be that you've outgrown your original reason for blogging and you're still very happy with what you're doing.
But if there's a part of you that's looking down at what you wrote on that piece of paper and feeling a tinge of unhappiness, we can help. Over the remaining 14 days we'll be putting out some prompts, tips and ideas to get you on track to falling back in love with your blog. But here are a few things we'd like to you do before you tune in for Day 2 tomorrow:
- Write down what you really dislike about blogging and keep that list handy for the next three weeks.
- Write down what you really love about blogging — keep that list handy too!
- Write down all the reasons you blog, not just why you started your blog.
- Commit to not looking at any traffic reports, analytics or earnings reports for at least a full week (unless you're under some type of contractual obligation to report those numbers in the next week).
Come back tomorrow and be ready to get started. We'll be covering different points each day, all designed to make you stop, rethink and reconnect with your blog in a positive way.
In the meantime, feel free to share your original reason for blogging in the comments and tell us about what you struggle with and what you really love about blogging. Discussion and feeling like you're not the only one can go a long way to feeling better about things!
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Wow, you have no idea how badly I needed this article at this very moment. Thank you once again Food Bloggers of Canada!
I started my blog in 2011 after a food allergy forced me to get creative in the kitchen and I was excited to share everything with everyone. I still feel that same excitement 4+ years later. Yay!
I’m currently struggling with blogger burn-out after posting every day for 24 days straight in DECEMBER. While I was happy with the project I realised about half way through that it was too much.
I’ve been mulling over the idea of taking a 3-4 month break from blogging to concentrate on some upcoming personal events but I’m afraid if I step away for an extended period, I won’t want to get back into it and that would be a shame 🙁
I’m looking forward to the rest of this series as I’m sure it’s going to help me move forward from the position I find myself stuck in.
THANK YOU! This could not have come at a more perfect time.
I started blogging to help people find nightshade free recipes, a niche that didn’t really exist but that I personally needed and couldn’t find. I really struggle with the stress the blog has started to create in my life. It’s not succeeding even though I feel like I’m doing my best, and I don’t know how to fix it. I worry that maybe my niche is too niche-y, even though most of the recipes are for everyone (cakes, anybody?) I need to let go of those numbers and just keep doing it because I love it. Social media has been my ongoing Everest to climb, but I invested in CoSchedule and it’s already helped a lot.
I absolutely love almost everything about blogging, it scratches all of my creative itches: the writing, the cooking, the photography. I love planning each and every post – what props I’ll use, the backdrops, the ingredients, the quality of the light, turns of phrase and little jokes… I love that bloggers – at least the ones I interact with – help pull each other up and are so supportive of each other. I find it very personally fulfilling.
Thanks for this! I’m excited for the next 15 days 🙂
I have been stuck in a rut for over a year. Something in me has finally caved and I am ready to get back into it. I’ve been reading the resources online at FBC to help me get myself organized and ready to go. I started blogging for ME and I realize now that I was putting too much pressure on myself to hammer out recipes without much thought and I suddenly just lost ambition and motivation. I am surprised there aren’t more comments on this article!
Thanks Laura! So glad you found this helpful. We were thinking of packaging the whole series into a small ebook – maybe we should!
a small ebook would be awesome!